FIFA World Cup 2018: Top 5 matches in the history of the tournament

#1 Italy vs West Germany, 1970 World Cup

Superlatives won't be enough to describe this match

Italy and West Germany locked horns in the semi-finals of the 1970 World Cup. West Germany won all their group games and came back from 2-0 to defeat England in the quarter-finals which was a rematch of the 1966 World Cup final.

Italy, on the other hand, scored just one goal in the group stages but thrashed hosts Mexico in the quarters.

The match was held at the Estadio Azteca and a crowd of more than 102000 people had gathered to witness the encounter.

It took just eight minutes for Italy to take the lead thanks to Roberto Boninsegna. West Germany tried hard to equalise but the Italian defense consisting of the likes of Tarcisio Burgnich and Giacinto Facchetti kept the Germans at bay.

Dino Zoff was also doing a terrific job between the sticks. Franz Beckenbauer had dislocated his shoulder during the match but continued to play with a sling since West Germany had used up all of its substitutions.

Italy also tried hard to double their lead but Sepp Maier kept on producing a number of fine saves.

Just when it looked like Italy were going to the final, Jurgen Grabowski crossed a ball towards goal and Karl-Heinz Schnellinger tapped the ball in to equalise for West Germany. Schnellinger was playing with AC Milan at the time and this was his only international goal.

The match went into extra time and in the 94th minute, West Germany were given a corner.

The corner went towards skipper Uwe Seeler whose header was chested by substitute Fabrizo Poletti but he could not control the ball. Gerd Muller took advantage of this and shot the ball into the goal to give West Germany the lead.

Italy got a free-kick in the 98th minute which was lofted towards the German goal. Midfielder Sigfried Held's touch deflected the ball towards Burgnich whose shot beat Maier and equalised for Italy.

In the 104th minute, Luigi Riva received a cross from the left and after baffling Schnellinger, shot from his left-foot and into the back of the net to give Italy the lead.

However, West Germany were not backing down and were playing offensively in search of an equaliser. In the 110th minute, Reinhard Libuda crossed from the right and his cross was headed by Seeler. Seeler's header found Gerd Muller who headed the ball past Dino Zoff to equalise for West Germany.

Just after the ensuing kick-off, Giacinto Facchetti played the ball towards Boninsegna who passed the ball to Gianni Rivera. Rivera shot the ball into the German net to restore the lead for Italy.

The Italians were resilient enough to contain the West German strikers for the remaining 9 minutes and won the game 4-3 to reach the final.

From the top quality of football played by both nations to a record of 5 goals being scored in extra time, there are plenty of reasons why this match is nicknamed "The Game of the Century" and will always be the greatest FIFA World Cup match ever.

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